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{No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. S. PRAZIER-& M. G. STOLP.

TWO WHEELED VEHICLE.

Patented Dec.- 9, 1884.

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\VALTER S. FRAZIER AND MYRON G. STOLP, OF AURORA, ILLINOIS; SAID STOLP ASSIGNOR TO SAID FRAZIER.

TWO WHEELED VEHICLE.

$PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 309,040, dated December 9, 11884.

Application filed August 18, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it iii/my concern:

Be it known that we, WALTER S. FRAZIER and hIYRON G. STOLP, citizens of the United States, residing at Aurora, Kane county, llli- 5 nois, have invented new and useful Improvements in TWo-VVheeled Vehicles or Road- Oarts, of which the following is aspecification. This invention relates to improvements in two-wheeled vehicles or road-carts, and has for its objects to provide novel thill attachments for preventing the vibratory motions of the thills incident to the movements of the draftanimal from being unduly transmitted to the vehicle-body and the occupant thereof; to provide a novel step attachment for jointed thills, and means whereby the weight of the person on the step in entering or leaving the vehicle is resisted by abutting stops at the joint of the thill sections, and to provide means for strengthening flexibly-jointed thills and yieldingly resisting the pressure incident to the weight'of a person entering or leaving the vehicle.

In two-wheeled vehicles or drivingcarts, wherein the body is supported by springs connected with the axle of the wheels, it is very desirable to provide simple, economical, and efficient means for absorbing the motion imparted to the thills by the movements of the draft-animal, as when trotting, in order to render the vehicle comfortablein use, and similar in many respects to a buggy or tour-wheeled carriage. Many constructions have been adopted for accomplishing these results to a greater or less extent, and'ourinvention coinprises what we consider very desirable means for the purposes to be attained.

Our invention consists in the novel combination of devices hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a twowheeled'vehiele or road-cart having our invention applied thereto; Fig. 2, a detached perspective view of a portion of the thills, on an enlarged scale; Fig. 3, a detached perspective view of the attachments; Fig. i, a similar view, showing a modification in the arrangement of the attachments, and Fig. 5 a modification of the joint to provide the flexible thill.

In order to enable those skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will now describe the same in detail, referring to the drawings, where the number 1 indicates the axle; 2. the body, and 3 thebody-supporting springs, the latter being sh own as elliptical and rigidly attached to the axle and supporting the body from its sides. The manner of supporting the body, however, may be variously changed, as, for instance, a spring-platform may be employed.

The thills are composed of front sections, a, and rearsections, 5, the abutting ends of which are jointed or flexibly connected by a metallic spri ng-plate, 6, secured at its ends to the front and rear sections, respectively; and to the under side of the rear section is rigidly attached a metal plate, 7, formed or otherwise provided with a pendent shank, 8, having a step, 9, at its lower end extremity. A metal plate, 10, rigidly secured to the lower side of the front thill-section, is provided with a lateral exten sion attached to the cross-bar 11 of the thills, and with a pendent flange, 12, curved or bent rearward and upward behind a pendent flange, 13, formed or provided at the forward end of the plate 7, carrying the step-shank, such flanges constituting two stops located, respectively, in front and rear of the abutting ends of the thillsections. A screw-bolt, 14, passes loosely through a perforation in one of the pendent stop-flanges, and adjustably engagesa screw-threaded orifice in the other stop-flange, orra nut, as in Fig. l; and on the bolt between its head and one ,of the flanges is arranged a washer and a spring, 15, preferably a rubber spring, in such manner that when the stop-flanges move toward each other by the upward movement of the front thill-section, or by the depression of the abutting ends of the sections, the spring is compressed. The tension of the spring can be varied by adjusting the screw-bolt in the stop-flange having the screw-threaded orifice, to more or less confine or restrict the movements of the stop-flanges and vibratory move ments of the front thill'section. The flexible or jointed connection of the thill-sections per--- mits the front sections to vibrate accordingto the movements of the draft-animal, thereby preventing the horse motion from being unduly transmitted to the vehicle-body and the occupant thereof; and when pressure is brought to bear on the step,as when a person is entering 5 or leaving the vehicle by such step, the two stops or flanges will be brought toward each other, and caused to abut if the pressure is sufficient to overcome the tension of the spring,

thus abridging the motion of the thill-sections 1 at the joint and producing, practically, a rigid thill to effectually sustain the weight of the person in entering or leavingthe vehicle. If the weight of the person be not sufficient to overcome the tension of the spring, the stops will'not come in direct contact, but the spring will yieldingly sustain the thill-sections at the joint, and also yieldingly support the weight of the person.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 we have shown the curved or bent flange 12, on the metal plate secured to the front thill-section, but obvious ly the arrangement of .the stopscan be reversed, as shown in vFig. 4, without changing the character of the invention; and, further,

instead of jointing or flexibly connecting the thill-sections by the metallic spring-plate 6,

which bridges the abutting ends of the sections, we can produce the flexible-joint connection, as shown in Fig. 5, where the thill 0 is partially severed by a cut, 16, terminating in longitudinal cuts 17, to produce a springplate, 18, integral with the thill, which per,-

mits the front thill-section to be vibrated by the movements of the animal.

In practice, the spring on the bolt, acted upon by the'stop-flanges, will in a measure absorb the vibrating motion of the front thillsections, and aid in relieving the vehicle-body from horse motion.

We have shown the stop-flanges as forming parts of the respective plates on the under side of the thill, but these flanges or stops may be separate attachments, if desired, and if the spring-plate connection of the thill-sections becomes broken, the bolt will serve to hold the parts together.

Instead of a spring-plate flexible connection for the thill-sections, we can use a hinge of suitable'construction; and instead of the rear 5o thill-sections embracing the vehicle-body and attached to the body-supporting springs, as shown, such rear sections maybe formed as the side sills of the vehic1e-body; but for convenienee we designate the thills as composed of front and rear sections.

The spring on the bolt, which is acted upon by the stop-flanges, may be dispensed with in some cases, if desired, but its use is desirable, and we may also dispense with the bolt as well as the spring.

The vehicle-body will be supported at its front end through the medium of an iron bar extending from one thill to theother, to which bar the body will be bolted or otherwise se- 1 two flanges projecting from the thill-sections.

respcctively,antl one of the flanges extending around the other, with a bolt passing through both flanges, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the front and rear thill-sections, flexibly connected together, and two flanges projecting from the thill-sections, respectively, one of the flanges extending around the other, with a bolt passing through both flanges, and a spring upon. the, bolt, substantially as described. r

4. The'combination, with the front and rear thill-sections,flexibly connected together, of a step having its shank secured to one thill-section, and constructed with a projecting stopflange, and a stop-flange projecting from the other thill-section for limiting the deflection of the thill-sections, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

\VALTER S. FRAZIER. MYRON G. S'lOLP.

\Vitnesses: J. H. I-IoDDnR, E. S. FRAZIER. 

